The Witcher 4 got its first–and very impressive–cinematic trailer during The Game Awards. Among other things, we learned the game will focus on Ciri as the main character. The developers at CD Projekt Red have now discussed why they wanted to have Ciri be the star and have confirmed that, as suspected, Geralt will appear in the game in some fashion.
Game director Sebastian Kalemba told PC Gamer that it was a “natural choice” for The Witcher 4 to tell its story from Ciri’s perspective, building off the narrative in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
“There’s plenty of room for her and for us, also, to build on top of [her]. There’s so much room for exploration, and because she’s such a nuanced character, the beginning of her journey gives us freedom and so many opportunities to be able to dig in and use [that] for good,” he said.
Ciri was a playable character in some parts of The Witcher 3, and executive producer Gosia Mitręga said she is “less defined as a character,” which gives the developers opportunities for storytelling.
Geralt, the hero of CD Projekt’s previous Witcher games, will appear in The Witcher 4 as well. Kelamba said Geralt is important to the developers and to Ciri, so he’s “definitely” going to appear. His voice was heard at the very end of the game’s recent trailer, but that’s it so far.
“I can’t tell you more, but I think the promise is enough. But we believe that this journey, this new saga, this new trilogy is definitely for her,” he said.
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As Kelamba said, The Witcher 4 kicks off a new trilogy of Witcher games, which are in development alongside CD Projekt’s other games, including a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel and a Witcher remake.
Recently, Geralt voice actor Doug Cockle walked back his comments about Geralt appearing in The Witcher 4 after the studio “slapped” him for talking about it.
The game’s impressive CG trailer at The Game Awards was created by Platige Image and was pre-rendered in a custom version of Unreal Engine 5 running on an “unannounced Nvidia GeForce RTX GPU.” The trailer uses assets and models from the game, but is more meant to be a mood piece that aims to show “the kind of experience the game is aspiring to provide.”